


don't blame me for falling

by sameolsituation



Series: DL Stockings 2019 [10]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Big Gay Love Story, DL Stockings 2019, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, brian thinks he's an anomaly, poly!Queen, surprise: he's not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:01:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21975517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sameolsituation/pseuds/sameolsituation
Summary: As Brian grew older, he began to imagine that maybe those extra words on his skin weren’t a fluke; maybe he really did have three soulmates, he just had to go out and find them.It was hard to believe, but sitting under the stars in the backyard of his parents’ home, he let himself imagine they were all out there somewhere – maybe gazing up at the same sky, wondering if he was out there, too.--The poly!Queen soulmate AU in which 99% of people have one soulmark -- but Brian has three.
Relationships: John Deacon/Brian May/Freddie Mercury/Roger Taylor
Series: DL Stockings 2019 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581805
Comments: 6
Kudos: 73
Collections: DL Stockings 2019





	don't blame me for falling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RDcantRead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RDcantRead/gifts).



> This was created as part of the Dork Lovers Server Stocking Challenge... you get a fic, you get a fic, everyone gets a fic! 
> 
> This is the first soulmate AU I've written; I absolutely LOVE reading them, so I just had to attempt one of my own! I hope I did the trope justice.
> 
> Title is from Harry Styles' song To Be So Lonely.

Every child received a ‘soulmate mark’ on their fifth birthday; the first words their soulmate would ever say to them, printed on their skin indelibly. There were some very rare cases of two marks appearing on a child’s skin, but it was never known if those children ever found both of their soulmates, although most people passed around whispered rumors that the double marks were an accident and that those with them only had one.

When Brian May turned five, his parents were understandably astonished when _three_ marks appeared on his skin; one a rather crass ‘ _watch it, fucking wanker_ ,’ down his bicep, the second a more pleasant ‘ _it’s so lovely to meet you, darling_ ,’ stretched out over his stomach, and the last a very plain, straightforward ‘ _hello_ ’ over his collarbone.

His mother was so concerned about the words on her son’s skin that she took him to a specialist not long after his birthday, who, after several uncomfortable tests, concluded that they didn’t have any explanation besides the usual ‘it must be a fluke’.

So Brian was taught to pretend there was only one word on his skin, covering the others as best as he could; it was hard to go about in the sweltering summer heat with long sleeves, but he managed. Yet, all the hiding didn’t seem to help; his classmates and those in his neighborhood tended to keep their distance from him, as though they knew there was something wrong, something different about him.

As Brian grew older, he began to imagine that maybe those extra words on his skin _weren’t_ a fluke; maybe he really did have three soulmates, he just had to go out and find them.

It was hard to believe, but sitting under the stars in the backyard of his parents’ home, he let himself imagine they were all out there somewhere – maybe gazing up at the same sky, wondering if he was out there, too.

* * *

It was Brian’s first day at Imperial College, where he’d transferred to complete a PhD in astrophysics. He wasn’t very familiar with the layout of the campus, resorting to checking every so often the hastily-scrawled map tucked into his notebook to ensure he was still going in the right direction to get to his first class.

As he walked, he noticed a boy walking across the courtyard, animatedly talking to a girl who was walking alongside him. The boy had blonde hair shaped in a bowl cut, bright blue eyes, and a wide smile. Brian felt an odd, unfamiliar flutter in his chest as he watched the boy say something to the girl, the boy abruptly changing direction as they parted ways and he began to walk towards Brian.

Brian immediately looked back down at his notebook to avoid being caught staring – although there was just _something,_ a feeling Brian couldn’t describe, drawing him to that boy.

Literally, perhaps, in that he looked up again just in time to run directly into said boy, knocking them both flat on the ground, Brian’s books flying in all directions around them. Brian groaned as he sat up, the beginnings of a headache beginning to pound behind his temple.

The boy was quick to get to his feet, a scowl marring his pretty face as he looked down at Brian. “Watch it, fucking wanker,” he snapped, and Brian swore he felt his heart pound hard enough to burst out of his chest at the sound of those words coming off of the boy’s lips.

The boy started to take off, walking briskly away from Brian, but Brian managed to recollect himself enough to shout after him. “Wait!” he yelled, climbing to his feet a little unsteadily.

The boy froze in his tracks, slowly turning around to face Brian.

“What did you say?” he asked, a mixture of horror and awe on his face.

“I said wait,” Brian repeated, and before he could stop himself, he blurted, “You’re my soulmate.”

“That’s fucking impossible,” the boy said, but he took a step towards Brian nonetheless. “You? You can’t be.”

“I’ll prove it,” Brian said, an edge of desperation creeping into his voice. Something he didn’t understand was telling him this boy had to be in his life, that Brian couldn’t let him walk away. He pulled the sleeve of his shirt up to his elbow, showing him the four words running down the length of Brian’s arm.

“Jesus,” the boy breathed, slowly holding his own arm out and turning it so his wrist faced Brian, the one word printed there coming into focus in Brian’s vision.

_Wait._

“But I already have a soulmate; it’s not possible to have two, is it? They always said it wasn’t possible, that it’s just an accident,” the boy rambled. “I can’t—I can’t have two.”

“They told me the same thing,” Brian confessed. “I’ve got three marks. But you’re the first one I’ve actually found.”

“I’ve got three as well,” the boy said, staring down at his wrist as if he expected the mark to suddenly disappear.

“Maybe ours are the same. I think anything’s possible, if I’m being honest.”

“Hmm.” The boy looked thoughtful for a few moments, before he sighed and lifted his arm to extend his hand to Brian. “I’m Roger.”

“I’m Brian,” he answered, grasping Roger’s hand gently in his own, and when their hands touched it was as if electricity had been shot directly through Brian’s veins. 

If Brian had held any doubts about the possibility of Roger being his soulmate, those doubts vanished with that one simple touch. He’d read stories about what people first physically felt when they met their soulmates; one touch felt like fire, like ice, like the entire universe congregated itself into their fingertips, all the stardust and souls in the galaxy melding together to ensure they found each other.

* * *

Three days later, Brian was introduced to Freddie, Roger’s best friend and first soulmate. They’d been inseparable since their first day of their first year, according to Roger.

Freddie was _beautiful,_ just as stunning as Roger if not his complete visual opposite, with long black hair instead of his short blonde, and brown eyes framed perfectly with dark eyeshadow, a far cry from Roger’s bright, shiny blue.

Freddie smiled warmly at Brian and shook his hand and said ‘ _it’s so lovely to meet you, darling_ ,’ and when Brian’s whole being lit up with Freddie’s touch just as it had with Roger’s three days prior, Brian found himself inexplicably crying.

“Don’t cry, it’s alright,” Freddie said, gently pulling Brian in close and wrapping his arms around him. “Shh, it’s okay, my love.”

Brian felt another pair of arms at his back and realized Roger had joined them, pressing himself against Brian’s back and wrapping his arms around the two of them. He tried to stop the flow of tears but still they came, an expression of gratitude he just couldn’t put into words.

“I never thought I would find you,” Brian confessed when his tears finally subsided. “Both of you,” he added, mindful of Roger’s presence behind him.

“You were meant to find us,” Freddie said firmly, pressing the smallest of kisses against Brian’s cheek. “And we were meant to find you.”

* * *

Freddie and Roger shared a flat just off campus, and it was there that they led Brian after his rather emotional meeting with Freddie. The flat was quite small, with a single bathroom, a single bedroom, and a small kitchen and living room. The bedroom had one bed, but the couch could pull out into a small bed if need be.

That night, they lay tangled together in the bedroom, Brian and Freddie and Roger so close together it was impossible to tell where one ended and another began. Brian told them about what his parents had said – that he probably would only have one soulmate; that his multiple marks were an accident; that he’d be lucky just to find one. He told them about the way he’d been alienated for his multiple marks, treated like an anomaly and a freak anytime anyone discovered he had more than one, no matter how hard he tried to cover up the others or insisted that the others didn’t mean anything.

Freddie was quiet for a long time, and Brian was worried that perhaps he’d said too much, scared off his newest soulmate within the first day.

“How many do you have?” Freddie finally asked.

“Three,” Brian said.

“I have three, too,” Freddie replied softly, turning his head to meet Brian’s gaze.

“Me, too,” Roger chimed in from Brian’s other side. “But you know that already.” He rolled onto his side and tugged his shirt up to his ribcage to show Brian the words printed just under his navel, curving down towards his hips: _So you’re the troublemaker?_

“I think we’re all waiting for the same person,” Freddie decided. “What are the chances of all of us having three marks otherwise? There’s someone else out there with three marks and they’re meant for us. There’s meant to be four of us. We might be the only ones in the entire world with three marks.”

“Suppose you’re right,” Roger hummed. “But if we do find this fourth person, how would that even work? A relationship with four people? Nothing against it, I just don’t know if a bed that big exists.”

“We’ll figure it out along the way,” Freddie said firmly. “We’ll _build_ a giant bed if we have to. I’m sure Brian’s good at those kinds of things, what with those long fingers of his.”

Brian flushed and ducked his head, and Freddie smiled and leaned in to kiss him, chasing his embarrassment away.

* * *

Brian ended up moving in with Roger and Freddie, even though the one-bedroom, one-bathroom flat was hardly big enough for two people, much less three, but somehow they made it work (despite dozens of arguments over Freddie spending too much time in the bathroom doing his makeup or Brian spending too much time in the bathroom trying to tame his hair).

They started a band together and spent all their free time practicing, certain that they had the potential to make something of themselves. The only problem was that they couldn’t find a permanent bass player; a year passed and they went through five different ones, none of them meshing well with the image or the sound the others had in mind.

By the summer of 1971, Brian was beginning to feel it was hopeless; both their attempts at finding a permanent bass player and their attempts to find the missing fourth person in their relationship. Even though Brian knew he had his entire life to find that fourth person, he had found Roger and Freddie in such a short time span that he’d been hoping fate would be kind and allow him to find his last soulmate in another relatively short time span.

But Freddie refused to give up, and Brian had no choice but to go along with his decisions. That was why he was currently sitting in one of the spare meeting rooms on campus, preparing himself for the third round of bass player auditions this summer alone; even though he had a feeling the auditions would be as fruitless as always.

When the auditions began, Brian essentially zoned out for the first hour and a half, finding each bassline every potential bassist performed for them to be generic at best and downright boring at worst.

But as they were nearing the two-hour mark and the last bassist of the session entered the room, Brian perked up. There was something he didn’t understand telling him to pay attention to the unassuming, long-haired boy setting his guitar case down in front of them.

When Brian looked over at Freddie and Roger and noticed the smile on Freddie’s face and the tiniest smirk on Roger’s, he knew they felt it too.

“Well, hello there,” Freddie greeted. “What’s your name, darling?”

“Hello,” the boy said quietly. “I’m John Deacon.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you, John,” Freddie said, his smile widening. “I’m Freddie, the lead singer.”

“And I’m Roger, the drummer,” Roger chimed in.

John smiled; a tiny smile that somehow suited him. “So you’re the troublemaker?”

It was as though all the air in the room had been compressed with the way Brian struggled to breathe after those words left John’s lips. He’d read those same words on Roger’s skin so many times in the past two years that he could still see them if he closed his eyes.

The person they had been missing all this time was now standing right in front of them.

“That I am,” Roger said, his smirk becoming a smile of his own.

“And, uh, I’m Brian, the guitarist,” Brian said, prompted only by the questioning look Freddie shot him across the table when he didn’t speak up; he was so dumbfounded that it was difficult to get any words out, much less a proper sentence.

“Hello,” John said again, and Brian was reminded of the ‘ _hello’_ written across his collarbone; it could have been anyone, but Brian now knew it was him. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Show us what you’ve got,” Roger said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest. Freddie and Brian nodded their agreement, and John pulled his bass from its case, slung the strap over his shoulder, and began to play.

It was nothing like they’d ever heard before – something _different,_ something unique instead of the same tired bass line played a hundred times over. Brian’s mouth fell open in awe as he listened and watched John play effortlessly. It was over much too soon, with John stopping and smiling shyly at them.

“Did you write that yourself?” Brian asked.

“I did. I have a lot more, too, if you’d like to hear more,” John said.

Beside Brian, Roger abruptly pushed his seat back and stood up; walking around the table to quite literally fling himself at John, enveloping him in a tight hug despite John’s bass forcing some space between their bodies.

“Welcome home,” Roger murmured, confirming what they all already knew.

John was their missing piece.


End file.
